Dr Sinethemba Makanya is currently a senior lecturer and head of the division of Art Therapy at the University of Johannesburg. She is a researcher and academic with a decade of navigating innovative research methods and new knowledge in the creative arts therapies, medical and health humanities, anthropology, sociology, indigenous knowledge systems, and South African understandings of African Metaphysics. She is an inyanga (indigenous healer) who specialises in psycho-spiritual dis-ease and sexual reproductive health. A Mellon Foundation Scholar, Makanya completed her PhD in Medical and Health Humanities at the Wits Institute of Social and Economic Research in 2021. Her thesis drew on her dual roles as researcher and inyanga to examine indigenous healers’ constructions of mental health. A Fulbright Scholar, Makanya completed her Masters in Drama Therapy at New York University in 2012. A ground breaker, Makanya was featured on the Mail and Guardian 200 Young South Africans List (2018) in the category of Science and Technology, for the contribution of her research in demystifying practices of traditional healing and (re)centring indigenous knowledges. Makanya was also part of the team responsible for the first undergraduate Medical and Health Humanities program in Africa in the Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care at Wits University. She has also coordinated and taught courses in Health Systems Science, Applied drama and Drama in Education.
